


It's Okay

by Ehlihr (Elihaha)



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Gen, Unrequited Love, bye, fuq y'all for making nico the pining one and making will go "i guess i like u" bye
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-05
Updated: 2016-09-05
Packaged: 2018-08-13 06:55:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7966843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elihaha/pseuds/Ehlihr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“It’s okay, Cecil, Nico’s coming by later to help as usual.” Will says. His voice is tight, even to his own ears. Nico was supposed to be there an hour ago, they both knew it.<br/>“Right,” Cecil says doubtfully. “Anyway, the offer still stands. I’ll see you at break, man.”<br/>--<br/>There's a certain stress with feeling like you've ruined anything.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's Okay

His hand shakes slightly as it hovers over door to the Hades cabin in the shape of a fist. He wants to knock and just get this _over_ with, because Lou insisted it would go well- that yes, “telling Nico you like him will definitely end with you getting the kiss of a lifetime."

Somehow, Will doubts it.

His stomach churns and then he’s knocking and- _holy shit, why the fuck did he do that_?

He briefly contemplates running, risking the idea of Nico watching his back as he ding-dong-ditched him and unleashing god-knows-what upon him in retaliation. Before he can turn around and make a break for it, the door opens to reveal Nico, sleepy and ruffled looking.

Maybe coming to his door at seven in the morning, before the breakfast call, was a terrible idea. Nico has a rumpled looking shirt and plaid pajama pants that were just slightly too short on him, revealing his ankles. Nico had grown a lot over the past few years, outgrowing his clothes easily. He’s grown in other ways too- he’s more wiry than bony, tanner but still tired looking, and he had smatterings of freckles across his forearms and the bridge of his nose. Four years of living at camp seemed to do well for him, if him sleeping at all was any indication.

He yawned around a “fuckayawant”, rubbing his eye with the heel of his palm as he glared down at Will (more like across, Nico was barely an inch taller than him). Will swallowed.

“I want to talk to you,” he stammers, pulling at his shirt’s hem.

Nico narrows his eyes and moves to close his door, but Will stops it with his hand. “Please,” he presses, not willing to back down anymore. “Just… It’s important.”

Nico’s features soften. “Whatever,” he croaks, moving aside to let Will in. He plops himself on his bed, motioning for Will to sit at the edge. “What’s up, Will?”

Will sits, twiddling his thumbs, pinching and pulling at the bandage he has wrapped around his hand by necessity for stressful situations. Now that he’s _here_ , he’s not so sure how to approach it. _Hi, Nico, I’ve had a crush on you since I saw you with the legion of skeletons. I’ve wanted to date you since we mutually decided to let Octavian kill himself and I held your hands, even though mine were sweaty. I’ve been in love with you since we were sixteen and you laughed so hard milk came out your nose- you choked and I had to get you to the infirmary, but I’ve never seen someone laugh so hard at such a shitty pun before_.

He doesn’t say any of that, stays silent and hitches his breathing occasionally as he tries to find the right words. Nico sighs. His voice is groggy with sleep, his thick hair curling around his face and framed by the soft morning light that eases through the curtains. “Look. Will. If it wasn’t ass o’clock I’d be a good friend and tell you that you can take your time or whatever, because clearly something is bothering you, but I’ve got like, two hours of sleeping to crunch in before breakfast so-”

“I’m in love with you,” he says, and feels the room go cold. Not so much metaphorically as in _literally_. Nico’s eyes are wide with shock - if he wasn’t awake before he certainly was now - and his mouth is ajar. He looks at Will like a stranger- like he doesn’t even recognize him or those words in that order from his mouth and oh god- Will feels completely sick.

“You… _what?”_ he whispers, as though he couldn’t make a loud noise - as though speaking any louder might make the ice slowly building on the windows suddenly burst into flame.

“I’m in love with you,” he murmurs, inching forward, but Nico lurches back. It doesn’t help the itch at the back of his neck, the scratchy feeling on his forearms, the dry mouth he currently has.

Nico blinks owlishly, his frozen stature broken by Will’s movement. He’s breathing hard, arms outstretched in front of him in a way Will recognizes as _defensive_. “You’re not… you’re not joking, right?” he presses.

Will shakes his head. “No, of course- I- I wouldn’t.”

“How long?” he asks.

Will makes a strangled noise. “I’ve liked you for five. Loved you for two, I guess.”

Nico flinches. “You _guess_.”

“No-no- I. I know. I know it. I feel it. All the time.” He avoids Nico’s spooked eyes. “It hurts, _all_ the time.”

The cabin feels suffocating - the dark decor pressing down, making the room look and feel smaller than it is. It doesn’t help his claustrophobia, and he feels cold sweat on his neck. He can’t- he can’t stand this- this uncharacteristic cold silence that he hasn’t seen in Nico since they were fourteen and the trauma of war was still fresh on Nico’s mind.

Quickly standing. “I’m- uh- I don’t expect anything-” he stammers. “I should go- I’m-”

He’s turning, feels Nico’s eyes on him, as he moves for the cabin door. He hopes for a moment it will be like movies, that Nico will grab his arm and say “Wait”, before kissing him. It’s a pleasant thought.

“I’m sorry,” Nico says instead. He doesn’t elaborate, and Will doesn’t need him to to hear the message.

Will sags his shoulders, his hand on the knob. “Look, I know I made things weird, but- please come to help by at the infirmary today if you can- the kids like you best.”

There’s a moment of silence. “I’ll try.” And that’s enough for now.

And so Will exits. He walks slowly to his own cabin, gets dressed for the day, and heads over to the infirmary to take stock and prep for the onslaught of minor injuries he would be healing. When Cecil comes to say hello an hour past breakfast, he doesn’t comment on Nico’s lack of presence, Will’s shaking hands, his quiet attitude. He just sort of winces and says that if Will needs anything he should call for him.

“It’s okay, Cecil, Nico’s coming by later to help as usual.” Will says. His voice is tight, even to his own ears. Nico was supposed to be there an hour ago, they both knew it.

“Right,” Cecil says doubtfully. “Anyway, the offer still stands. I’ll see you at break, man.”

\--

Nico doesn’t show. Will should have known, he’s seen him around camp training himself, training kids, talking to friends, and blatantly ignoring will. Blatantly, because both of the times Will had caught his eyes, any semblance of positivity and calm slid off his face. He instantly frowned, turned away.

Lou catches him moping, stacking and unstacking boxes of toilet paper over and over again to avoid leaving the infirmary and interacting with anyone at dinner.

“What are you _doing_?” she asks, pulling a box from his hands and setting it aside. Will twitches as he watches her haphazardly place it out of his reach.

“Stock,” he says lamely.

“Will- what happened?” she asks carefully, placing a hand on his shoulder. He shrugs it off.

Sighing, he rubs at his temples. “I took your advice. I told Nico I liked him.”

She blinks. “He doesn’t like you back, I’m guessing,” she says softly.

“Not at _all_ \- he looked terrified and grossed out and it’s _awful_ and I’ve fucked _everything up_ -” he rambles, feeling his eyes sting, his hands clenching and unclenching.

“Hey-” Lou interrupts, “-you didn’t _fuck it up_ ; based on how you two are acting you’re _both_ fucking it up.”

“What?”

“Well, for one, you probably blurted it out and spooked him, and since this is _Nico_ we’re talking about, he probably let himself freak out and made you even more nervous because you’re an anxious mess of an individual-”

“ _Hey-!”_

“ _And_ , you’re both avoiding each other like the plague. _Both_ of you. Nico didn’t come to the infirmary today, right?”

“Yeah, because I made it weird!”

“And that sucks! Whatever, you two need to stop acting like you’re fucking fourteen and just _talk_ to each other, Jesus!” she snaps.

Maybe if it was anyone else, the snapping and grating personality would rub him the wrong way, push him back and just make him more stubborn, but Lou has known him since they were twelve, knew every nook and cranny to his personality, and it didn’t help that she terrified him.

“I… Okay,” he says tiredly. “But I need to- to think, okay? If I go now he might, like, murder me.”

“Will. He will not murder you.”

“Lou-”

“Will-”

“ _Lou-”_

“Fine! Wait it out, but I swear to God, if you don’t go _soon_ , you’ll actually ruin it instead of it just being sort of awkward.”

“Right,” he sighs. “Okay.”

“It’ll be okay, Will.” She pats his shoulder before backing out of the infirmary. “Get some sleep, okay? And stop stacking the fucking toilet paper, it’s been an hour and a half.”

\--

He tells himself that he’ll talk to Nico the next day. Then the next, then the next, then the next-

It’s a week of avoiding Nico and Lou later, when he’s back in the infirmary, late past curfew, pacing quickly.

There’s a noise from the corner, and he whirls around to see Nico watching him from the shadows, his eyes squinted, hair tied back behind him.

“H-Hey! Nico, uh, what’s up? I was just, uh, finishing for today-” He stumbles over his words, clumsy with anxiety.

“Will, stop. Lou told me to come over. Said we should talk.”

Will’s shoulders sag at the tone of Nico’s voice- stiff, uncomfortable, and distant. He hates this- hates it hates it _hates it_ because this Nico is purposefully putting a physical and emotional ten feet between them.

“I’m sorry,” he chokes. “For ruining it. Our- our friendship.”

Nico huffs. “You didn’t ruin it, you self-conscious ass, you just made it weird. Look- I don’t want to not be your friend. I like being friends with you.”

Will is nodding so hard his neck hurts. “Yes, yeah, me too, I don’t-”

“But,” Nico presses, looking irritated at the interruption, “I don’t… I don’t like you. Like, at all. Not like that, anyway. I don’t think I will, either? I’ve just never really seen you that way.”

Will sees the Nico he recognizes - the one who thinks while he speaks, who is sort of awkward under a cool demeanor, who was blunt because he didn’t know how not to be. Will feels himself relax and smiles softly.

Nico freezes at this. “Why are you smiling like that?” he asks, suspicious.

“Nothing,” he lies. “It’s just, I don’t know, I missed talking to you. That’s corny, isn’t it?”

Nico winces. “A little. Listen, Will-”

“No, no, let me,” Will says, before breathing in. “I’m in love with you, and that’s- it’s weird, right? Because we’re friends. But I like being friends more than I like being in love with you. I don’t- I’m not expecting you to be different or act different, okay? Like, I love you but I also like you and I also like being your friend and like that you’re literally the most awkward person I know and I also think you’re _super_ annoying sometimes-”

(Nico huffs out a laugh. “ _Excuse me_ , look who’s talking-!”)

“-But that being said, I don’t- I’m not _just_ in love with you. That’s just part of it. Do you- do you get that?”

Nico is smiling softly at him, and Will’s positively melting. “Yeah- yeah, I do. I’m sorry I don’t like you back.”

Will shrugs. “It’s fine. It’s not, like, _fun_ or anything, but I’ll get over it eventually.” It feels like a lie to both of them, but Nico doesn’t comment on it, thankfully.

“I don’t know where to go from here,” Nico admits after a beat.

“Me neither.” Will picks at the bandaging on his hand.

There’s silence again, comfortable, but it still fills the room with the question - _What now?_

The answer is clear. The usual.

“ _I’m sorry for ruining our friendship,_ ” Nico wails exaggeratedly, throwing the back of his hand on his forehead dramatically before cracking a laugh.

“Oh my god- _no_ , don’t turn this on me, you asshole-”

“ _I missed talking to you~_ ” he laughs, moving to leave the infirmary, and Will is following.

“Nico, I swear to God, if you don’t-”

“ _I don’t expect anything_ ~” he cackles, and Will is running, yelling out indignities-

\--

Maybe Will won’t get to kiss Nico or date Nico or hold his hand, but that’s fine. It’s all fine, if Nico isn’t avoiding him and he can just bask in their friendship for the time being. It’ll hurt for a while, especially when Nico inevitably finds someone, but that’s just part of the process of moving on, Will guesses.

\--

When Nico comes to the infirmary the next day, eyes dead and screaming that he wasn’t a morning person, he looks at Will and grins. Will’s heart stutters, but it’s okay. It’s not quite back to normal and it won’t be until he’s over it, but that’s okay for now.

For now, they’re okay.

**Author's Note:**

> ppl: writes nico like he would do anything to date will and that nico is like a second choice to will/that will barely cares abt nico and also nico is woobified to all hell and will is flawless and boring
> 
> me, with a flamethrower: goodbye


End file.
